Ultimate Fallout #5

Part five of this six-chapter Marvel event delivers a striking cover by Adam Kubert that frames the entire arc's tension in a single image: a commanding, red-cloaked figure looms large in the background, pulling puppet strings that control a white-haired figure in the middle ground, who in turn manipulates three ordinary-looking civilians dangling below like marionettes. The layered puppet-master imagery suggests webs of manipulation running deep through the Ultimate Universe in the wake of Spider-Man's absence. With writing from Jonathan Hickman and Nick Spencer alongside interior art from Billy Tan and Luke Ross, this penultimate chapter promises the kind of intrigue and consequence that has defined this 2011 miniseries.